Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

SELAH (Feb. 26) -- The Central Washington University softball team managed just 10 hits over 17 innings of play on Sunday, as the Wildcats surrendered a seventh-inning lead in game one and allowed four final-inning runs in game two of their softball doubleheader with Western Oregon at Carlon Park, losing 7-4 and 8-4. The opener went 10 innings.

The Wildcats fell to 5-8 overall and 4-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with the losses, which enabled Western Oregon (4-9, 3-5 GNAC) to win the four-game weekend series, three games to one.

In the opener, CWU scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning, the last two of which were unearned. Junior ELENA CARTER (Olympia/Black Hills HS) led off with a double, and freshman pinch-runner SHELBY YASUDA (Woodinville) scored from second on a sacrifice bunt and error by senior LIZ JUSKO (Snohomish) for a 1-0 Wildcat lead. Later in the inning, after the Wildcats collected a single, fielder's choice, and three stolen bases overall, junior CASSI ELLIS (East Wenatchee/Eastmont HS) drove home the game's second run with a line drive sacrifice fly. The inning's final run came on a two-out infield error.

The score remained 3-0 until the top of the sixth inning, although CWU initially thought it had scored its fourth run in the bottom of the fourth on another would-be sacrifice fly by Ellis. However, the Wildcats' MOLLY COPPINGER (Belfair/North Mason HS) was ruled to have left third base early on the fly out, ending the inning without another tally on the scoreboard.

Western Oregon's sixth-inning run scored after Amanda Evola led off with a walk and came home to score two batters later on an infield error. The Wolves then tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, as their eighth- and ninth-place hitters, Ashlie Gardner and Danyelle Hutchison, came up with consecutive hits to start the inning. Gardner dropped down an infield single, which Hutchison followed with a game-tying home run to right-center field.

Neither team scored in the eighth or ninth innings, and the international tie-breaker rule was put into play in the top of the 10th inning. Western Oregon took advantage with a bunt single, stolen base, and intentional walk to load the bases with nobody out, and Jourdan Williams hit a two-run single just in front of diving CWU right-fielder JEN SCHWARTZ (Spokane/Shadle Park HS). Schwartz then overthrew the cut off getting the ball back to the infield, allowing a third run to score on the play and advancing Williams to third. She then scored on an infield groundout to make it a 7-3 score.

Central Washington also took advantage of the tie-breaker rule in the bottom of the inning, but only for a single run. With one out and a runner on third, senior CARRINA WAGNER (Tacoma/Spanaway Lake HS) hit the first pitch she saw to deep center field for a sacrifice fly, scoring senior BRE THOMAS (Vancouver/Columbia River HS) to make it 7-4.

Carter went 2 for 3 at the plate for the Wildcats, with Coppinger and sophomore JORDAN SCHERER (Centralia) also collecting hits. Sophomore pitcher MARIA GAU (Woodinville) threw all 10 innings in the pitching circle, tossing 153 pitches and scattering 10 hits but taking the loss (3-4) after striking out six and walking five. Just four of the seven runs she allowed were earned.

Western Oregon was led by Williams, who went 3 for 4 with two RBI. Gardner had a two-hit game as WOU out-hit Central Washington, 7-4. Myranda Sawyer earned the complete-game pitching win, allowing just four hits and one earned run.

In the nightcap, the two teams traded two-run innings early before Western Oregon scored twice in the fourth and four times in the seventh inning to earn the series victory.

The Wolves, who also left the bases loaded in the first and third innings, scored twice in the second inning on a two-run home run by Andrea Bailey. Central Washington came back in the bottom of the third with two runs of its own, but on just one hit -- a leadoff single by senior KRISTINA SHERRIFF (Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck HS) -- taking advantage of a walk, error, and fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt for its two tallies. Wagner, who saw a 10-game hitting streak snapped in the opener, delivered another sacrifice fly in the third inning, while Schwartz also plated a run on a bases-loaded error.

Western Oregon regained the lead in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Desiree Villegas and a sacrifice fly by Evola, making the score 4-2. The Wolves then tacked on four insurance tallies in the final inning, collecting four hits, the biggest of which was a two-run single by Villegas with two out. Evola also had a RBI triple in the frame, as WOU built a six-run cushion.

Central Washington mounted a brief rally in the bottom of the inning, as Sherriff doubled with one out. Ellis then lofted a two-run home run -- her first as a Wildcat -- to straight-away center field to cut the lead to 8-4, but consecutive outs after a pinch-hit single by Jusko thwarted a complete last-inning comeback by CWU.

The Wildcats managed just six hits against Western Oregon pitcher Hannah Pomeroy (2-1), of which three came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Five of their hits came from the bottom three positions in the batting lineup, with Sherriff and Ellis each collecting two-hit games.

Bailey and Ashley Cashin each had three-hit outings for Western Oregon in game two, with Bailey and Kendra George scoring three runs apiece. Seven of the Wolves' eight runs batted in belonged to their top three hitters in the lineup.

Central Washington is scheduled to play a four-game series at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field on the CWU campus in Ellensburg next weekend. The Wildcats and conference-leading Saints (6-3-1, 4-0 GNAC) are slated for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (Mar. 3) and a noon twinbill on Sunday (Mar. 4).